This past Sunday the church celebrated as “Ascension Sunday.” The Sunday remembers that 40 days after the Resurrection Jesus gathered before his disciples and in their sight ascended up to heaven. (Acts 1: 6-11) “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” Zac Hicks reminds us in his recent post on the Ascension that Luke makes a point to both end and begin his two great letters with accounts of the ascension (so we should take note). The ascension, however, doesn’t get a lot of attention…especially in our worship as sojourn pastor Daniel Montgomery states so succinctly in a recent post. Yet it is utterly essential…if not inscrutable! Without the ascension there is no pentecost, there is no church, there is no application to our lives of the victorious work of the cross and resurrection! The Ascension means that Jesus is now reigning, ruling, interceding for us, preparing a place for us, and ultimately planning his return for us. Under the ascension we can live with hope that Christ will come again.

Continuing on with our series of compilations exploring under-served themes in worship music we have collected texts from various corners of church hymnody and recast them in recent musical garb…many written in the last month!

You can download the album for free at BandCamp (all donations will be given to Jobs for Life). Included in the download is a PDF songbook of chords and leadsheets.

We also asked theologian Mike Farley to write an ARTICLE for us about the Ascension. As you are listening to these new songs take a moment to read the article. With these compilations we are trying to provide robust resources for worship leaders, churches, and all Christians by incorporating visual, musical, and theological perspectives.